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Hi I'm desperate for any help anyone can give me in regards to the RSPCA removing two of my ponies from my property.
I early August I arrived at my field at around 1am in the morning to feed, water and give medication etc to my ponies to find a notice from the RSPCA pushed into the chain of my gate, on further inspection it said that two of the seven ponies in the field had been seized as they were in poor condition and it was thought that they needed immediate attention and could the owner contact the RSPCA immediately.
I telephoned the number straight away as I was distraught whilst my partner climbed over the gate to feed the remaining five. I got very upset on the telephone but I was assured that the inspector who had took them would telephone me straight away the next day. After a very stressful night I waited until after dinner before I telephoned them again, again after a very distressed conversation I was told the inspector would be informed that I had phoned and he would contact me, I left it another few hours and called again, by this time I was crying and extremely distraught about my ponies welfare but I was again told the same.
I in the meantime went to feed and water the remaining five ponies to find that after they had cut the chain on my gate they had secured it in such a way that when I opened my lock the chain was still secured by the inferior lock that the inspector had put on. This distressed me even more as because I suffer from a fibromyalgia I have pain and mobility issues so cannot climb over the gate never mind give the ponies water via the 25l containers which would now have to be lifted over the gate.
I telephoned the RSPCA again and this time told them that I could not access the remaining ponies to feed and water them, again I was fobbed off with the same crap. At this point I told them I would continue too call until I knew what was happening with my ponies. A short while passed when I received a call from a woman who assured me that the inspector would contact me , however he wasn't working that day but was at work the following day. I told her that he had stopped me gaining access to the remaining ponies to feed and water them and God forbid if one needed immediate veterinary treatment. She suggested I gave them bottled water?? What the hell?? Bearing in mind it was the hottest part of the year and there was five of them and I'd already told her that I was unable to climb the gate. How ridiculous!
The following day I was still waiting for a call from the inspector, so at around mid morning I telephoned again to be told the same as before....they'd pass it on etc, etc. then finally just after dinner time the inspector called, I explained all that had happened in regards the ponies poor condition compared to the other 5.
I was so distressed at this point but I was informed that I could tell him all about the situation under caution at a later date and that he would deliver the keys to me so I could access the others later on that very hot Saturday, which he did. Whilst he was there he told me that he hadn't expected anyone to contact him and that he was surprised. I said that the ponies had been unwell and list a lot of condition but had been recovering well with the help of antibiotics, bute and supplements and that now they were eating normally I had change them to a high calorific feeding regime, I said why would I starve two of them and not the other five?
I had cared for them whilst they were sick and were on the road to a full recovery as I'd done many times in the 43 years I'd had ponies. To which he replied, 'well I did think it was strange that the fencing was of such a high standard' he said that there was ragwort in the field, yes I agreed there was but last year there had only been around 5/6 pieces and that it had been a very bad year for ragwort.
Unfortunately as I had been caring for my terminally ill father in law since December that I hadn't managed to get around to clearing as usually i would have flailed and collected it but I had also been worried that the illness the two ponies had was also contagious and that I hadn't wanted to infect the machinery and spread any virus and that I had delt with a very, very contagious virus just 2 years before in the same field before these two ponies had been put in there, a virus that is not airborne and that requires contact with infected equines or spread on clothing or equipment. Non of the ponies in that field had moved or been in contact with any other horses for months ....nor had I been with other equines. But they still got it?
A date for my interview under caution was arranged at that point. I attended this interview expecting to have it taped! No the inserted one everything that was said. After every question I answered and told them about the illness and how I suspect at first that it was indeed strangles, the serious illness my others had had previously. But as no abscesses had formed after the very swollen glands and general lethargy that I then suspected it was another less serious streptococcus virus instead. Both these illnesses I have dealt with previously in my 43 years of owning equines.
He asked why I hadn't called a veterinary surgeon, I told him because two years previously when I called one too the ponies with strangles to confirm that I was correct, he had just remarked 'yes you have strangles!' 'You'll be needing some more antibiotics ' I had nursed 5 ponies through various stages and amounts of seriousness of this virus. Including one that had been very unwell for many days, couldn't eat due to the pain and swelling being so bad eventually her abscess burst and she felt better only to be struck down by a serious complication which made her face, chest tummy and legs swell or get hard swellings on. She later got colic and the vet was called very early one morning, he gave her pain relief and told us that he thought it was 'bastard strangles' a very very serious condition where abscesses form internally and is usually fatal and that she would probably die from the condition but she soon felt better, although later that evening she started with the colic again, with nothing to lose I decided to treat her myself with some charcoal which was mixed with water and given via a syringe into her mouth. Again she rallied and she was cared for being given her antibiotics, vitamins, herbal detox liquids etc. during this time she too had lost so much weight after weeks of feeling ill or physically being unable too eat. As it was only around Maytime at this point I rugged her up to hide her from people who would not understand about her illness and who may think she was being starved and report it to the RSPCA.....this worked.
I told the inspector as it was during the warmer months I hadn't been able to disguise these two ponies poor condition after their illness has it would have been cruel to make them that warm and to be honest why should I? I hadn't done anything wrong! I had cared intensively for these two ponies, both were recovering well and just needed time to put back the weight that they had lost. That had been in hand with the change of diet and anyway you only had to look at the other five to know that they were looked after and not starved surely!
I sat in this interview for four solid hours trying to explain myself, I had printed off internet receipts, telephone numbers of my feed suppliers with whom I spent hundreds of pounds a time with, my forage supplier, my veterinary surgeons, who knew me well. Receipts for supplements, wormers and even a preparation to treat lice! He didn't look at one of them! I knew at this point my explanation was fruitless and that I wasn't going to be believed.
Many months passed without any contact from them, during this time my father in law was in and out of hospital and was only given days/weeks to live. He passed away at the end of September. Obviously there were things then to deal with funeral, house, accounts etc. so I was very busy with these but I decided to contact the RSPCA via their website I sent many emails until I was finally contacted to say that they believed that these ponies had been neglected and that the weight loss must have occurred over many months and that I should now be looking at get legal advice ie a solicitor as my case had been passed onto prosecution and I will be getting a letter for court in the near future. I am distraught, I feel I have been so unfair treat, they took my ponies in August and I only heard from them in early November because I've been emailing telling them I'm at the end of my tether.
They stand to take away all I have. I don't do anything else and since I had to give up working due to my illness I don'thave anything else. All my friends are from the horse world. They are going to try and prosecute me for neglecting the ponies I cared for during difficult times even if it meant I was doing it in the early hours of the morning sometimes. I don't know where they are, they tell me they're ok. But I don't know whether too believe them, they have slaughtered horses in the passed.
My life has already fallen apart, I've lost my health, my mobility, I don't drive due to the medication I take, I don't own a house, I don't go on holiday. The only things I have are my ponies and if they get their way I won't be able to have them. The stress this is causing is painful. I'll loose my friends, the embarrassment alone of people thinking I could do what they are claiming is killing me and I feel completely powerless. As I've told them they have a massive legal team and I can't even pay for a solicitor and will have too get free advice but I will fight for the death for my ponies...I've promised them that. If I have nothing else I'll do my best too still have them..........
Will someone please help me, I don't know what to do
I early August I arrived at my field at around 1am in the morning to feed, water and give medication etc to my ponies to find a notice from the RSPCA pushed into the chain of my gate, on further inspection it said that two of the seven ponies in the field had been seized as they were in poor condition and it was thought that they needed immediate attention and could the owner contact the RSPCA immediately.
I telephoned the number straight away as I was distraught whilst my partner climbed over the gate to feed the remaining five. I got very upset on the telephone but I was assured that the inspector who had took them would telephone me straight away the next day. After a very stressful night I waited until after dinner before I telephoned them again, again after a very distressed conversation I was told the inspector would be informed that I had phoned and he would contact me, I left it another few hours and called again, by this time I was crying and extremely distraught about my ponies welfare but I was again told the same.
I in the meantime went to feed and water the remaining five ponies to find that after they had cut the chain on my gate they had secured it in such a way that when I opened my lock the chain was still secured by the inferior lock that the inspector had put on. This distressed me even more as because I suffer from a fibromyalgia I have pain and mobility issues so cannot climb over the gate never mind give the ponies water via the 25l containers which would now have to be lifted over the gate.
I telephoned the RSPCA again and this time told them that I could not access the remaining ponies to feed and water them, again I was fobbed off with the same crap. At this point I told them I would continue too call until I knew what was happening with my ponies. A short while passed when I received a call from a woman who assured me that the inspector would contact me , however he wasn't working that day but was at work the following day. I told her that he had stopped me gaining access to the remaining ponies to feed and water them and God forbid if one needed immediate veterinary treatment. She suggested I gave them bottled water?? What the hell?? Bearing in mind it was the hottest part of the year and there was five of them and I'd already told her that I was unable to climb the gate. How ridiculous!
The following day I was still waiting for a call from the inspector, so at around mid morning I telephoned again to be told the same as before....they'd pass it on etc, etc. then finally just after dinner time the inspector called, I explained all that had happened in regards the ponies poor condition compared to the other 5.
I was so distressed at this point but I was informed that I could tell him all about the situation under caution at a later date and that he would deliver the keys to me so I could access the others later on that very hot Saturday, which he did. Whilst he was there he told me that he hadn't expected anyone to contact him and that he was surprised. I said that the ponies had been unwell and list a lot of condition but had been recovering well with the help of antibiotics, bute and supplements and that now they were eating normally I had change them to a high calorific feeding regime, I said why would I starve two of them and not the other five?
I had cared for them whilst they were sick and were on the road to a full recovery as I'd done many times in the 43 years I'd had ponies. To which he replied, 'well I did think it was strange that the fencing was of such a high standard' he said that there was ragwort in the field, yes I agreed there was but last year there had only been around 5/6 pieces and that it had been a very bad year for ragwort.
Unfortunately as I had been caring for my terminally ill father in law since December that I hadn't managed to get around to clearing as usually i would have flailed and collected it but I had also been worried that the illness the two ponies had was also contagious and that I hadn't wanted to infect the machinery and spread any virus and that I had delt with a very, very contagious virus just 2 years before in the same field before these two ponies had been put in there, a virus that is not airborne and that requires contact with infected equines or spread on clothing or equipment. Non of the ponies in that field had moved or been in contact with any other horses for months ....nor had I been with other equines. But they still got it?
A date for my interview under caution was arranged at that point. I attended this interview expecting to have it taped! No the inserted one everything that was said. After every question I answered and told them about the illness and how I suspect at first that it was indeed strangles, the serious illness my others had had previously. But as no abscesses had formed after the very swollen glands and general lethargy that I then suspected it was another less serious streptococcus virus instead. Both these illnesses I have dealt with previously in my 43 years of owning equines.
He asked why I hadn't called a veterinary surgeon, I told him because two years previously when I called one too the ponies with strangles to confirm that I was correct, he had just remarked 'yes you have strangles!' 'You'll be needing some more antibiotics ' I had nursed 5 ponies through various stages and amounts of seriousness of this virus. Including one that had been very unwell for many days, couldn't eat due to the pain and swelling being so bad eventually her abscess burst and she felt better only to be struck down by a serious complication which made her face, chest tummy and legs swell or get hard swellings on. She later got colic and the vet was called very early one morning, he gave her pain relief and told us that he thought it was 'bastard strangles' a very very serious condition where abscesses form internally and is usually fatal and that she would probably die from the condition but she soon felt better, although later that evening she started with the colic again, with nothing to lose I decided to treat her myself with some charcoal which was mixed with water and given via a syringe into her mouth. Again she rallied and she was cared for being given her antibiotics, vitamins, herbal detox liquids etc. during this time she too had lost so much weight after weeks of feeling ill or physically being unable too eat. As it was only around Maytime at this point I rugged her up to hide her from people who would not understand about her illness and who may think she was being starved and report it to the RSPCA.....this worked.
I told the inspector as it was during the warmer months I hadn't been able to disguise these two ponies poor condition after their illness has it would have been cruel to make them that warm and to be honest why should I? I hadn't done anything wrong! I had cared intensively for these two ponies, both were recovering well and just needed time to put back the weight that they had lost. That had been in hand with the change of diet and anyway you only had to look at the other five to know that they were looked after and not starved surely!
I sat in this interview for four solid hours trying to explain myself, I had printed off internet receipts, telephone numbers of my feed suppliers with whom I spent hundreds of pounds a time with, my forage supplier, my veterinary surgeons, who knew me well. Receipts for supplements, wormers and even a preparation to treat lice! He didn't look at one of them! I knew at this point my explanation was fruitless and that I wasn't going to be believed.
Many months passed without any contact from them, during this time my father in law was in and out of hospital and was only given days/weeks to live. He passed away at the end of September. Obviously there were things then to deal with funeral, house, accounts etc. so I was very busy with these but I decided to contact the RSPCA via their website I sent many emails until I was finally contacted to say that they believed that these ponies had been neglected and that the weight loss must have occurred over many months and that I should now be looking at get legal advice ie a solicitor as my case had been passed onto prosecution and I will be getting a letter for court in the near future. I am distraught, I feel I have been so unfair treat, they took my ponies in August and I only heard from them in early November because I've been emailing telling them I'm at the end of my tether.
They stand to take away all I have. I don't do anything else and since I had to give up working due to my illness I don'thave anything else. All my friends are from the horse world. They are going to try and prosecute me for neglecting the ponies I cared for during difficult times even if it meant I was doing it in the early hours of the morning sometimes. I don't know where they are, they tell me they're ok. But I don't know whether too believe them, they have slaughtered horses in the passed.
My life has already fallen apart, I've lost my health, my mobility, I don't drive due to the medication I take, I don't own a house, I don't go on holiday. The only things I have are my ponies and if they get their way I won't be able to have them. The stress this is causing is painful. I'll loose my friends, the embarrassment alone of people thinking I could do what they are claiming is killing me and I feel completely powerless. As I've told them they have a massive legal team and I can't even pay for a solicitor and will have too get free advice but I will fight for the death for my ponies...I've promised them that. If I have nothing else I'll do my best too still have them..........
Will someone please help me, I don't know what to do
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